Bulk material container with pouring spout

ABSTRACT

An improved bulk material container for use in shipping, storing and dispensing bulk materials from the container. The container may be formed of paperboard and contains a new and novel reclosable pouring spout as well as means for incorporating a slide valve in the pouring spout to control the flow of material through the pouring spout whenever the pouring spout is opened. The pouring spout is formed from a plurality of outer, intermediate and swinging doors with the inner swinging doors serving to keep the outer and intermediate doors in a generally horizontal position to allow the contents of the container to be easily removed. The container also has formed thereon new and novel means for reinforcing the container whenever it is used to handle extremely large weights of bulk materials.

United States Patent [19] Bamburg et al.

[451 Feb. 12, 1974 1 BULK MATERIAL CONTAINERYWITH POURING SPOUT [75] Inventors: Robert A. Bamburg; Farris N.

Duncan, both of West Monroe; Roger M. Floyd, Monroe, all of La.

[73] Assignee: Olinkraft, Inc., West Monroe, La.

22 Filed: Sept. 14, 1972 211 Appl. No.: 288,899

[52] US. Cl 222/528, 222/529, 229/7 SC, 229/17 SC [51] Int. Cl B67d 3/00 [58] Field of Search 229/7 R, 7 SC, .17 R, 17 B, 229/17 M, 17 SC; 222/462, 526, 537, 572, 573, 574, 182; 221/305 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,799,440 7/1957 Frederich et a1 229/17 B 3,193,152 7/1965 White...; 222/182 2,781,156 2/1957 Wal1o.. 229/7 R X 2,349,748 5/1944 Otto .t 229/17 SC 2,357,092 8/1944 'Mian et a1. 229/7 R X 3,599,830 8/1971 Gilchrist 221/305 X Primary ExaminerStanley H. Tollberg Assistant ExaminerLarry Martin Attorney, Agent, or FirmNorvell E. Von Behren; An-

thony OBrien; Robert Epstein [57] ABSTRACT An improved bulk material container for use in shipping, storing and dispensing bulk materials from the container. The container may be formed of paperboard and contains a new and novel reclosable pouring spout as well as means for incorporating a slide valve in the pouring spout to control the flow of material through the pouring spout whenever the pouring spout is opened. The'pouring spout is formed from a plurality of outer, intermediate and swinging doors with the inner swinging doors serving to keep the outer and intermediate doors in a generally horizontal position to allow the contents of the container to be easily removed. The container also has formed thereon new and novel means for reinforcing the container whenever it is used to handle extremely large weights of bulk materials.

10 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures PAIENIEuFEamm I 3.791.562.

sum 2 or 3 FIG. 2

BULK MATERIAL CONTAINER WITH POURING SPOUT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to bulk material shipping containers and particularly to such containers which may be used to ship, store and dispense the bulk materials within the container by means of a dispensing valve formed on the container.

It is known in the art to provide pouring spouts on containers for the purpose of dispensing the granular contents of the container. It is also known in the art to design the pouring spout to be reclosable so that after a given quantity of granular materials have been poured from the container, the pouring spout can be closed to prevent spillage of the remaining contents of the container. Prior art patents have been granted on these gype of containers as typified by the U.S. Pat. No. 1,020,536, issued to J. F. Byrne on Mar. 19, 1912; U.S. Pat. No. 1,842,237, issued to R.-K. Becker on Jan. 19, 1932; U.S. Pat. No. 2,151,202, issued to R. Guyer on Mar. 21, 19 39 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,082,926, issued to E. J. E. Powell on Mar. 26, 1963. These typical prior art pouring spouts could generally be classified as top pouring spouts wherein they were generally formed in the top or upper portion of the container with the container being upended by the user in order to dispense the granular contents out of the pouring spout. While such pouring spouts were satisfactory for small containers of the type which were easily held in the user's hands for upending, they were not generally satisfactory for dispensing of granular materials which were considerably heavier and whose weight prevented the upending of the container without seriously damaging its structure.

It is also known in the art to provide bottom dispensing containers for easily dispensing the contents of the container from the bottom of the package. With bottom dispensing containers it is also known to provide that the pouring spout may be reclosable after a desired amount of the materials have been dispensed. This type of container is typified in the U.S. Pat. No. 1,959,231, issued to I. H. Dube on May 15, 1934; U.S. Pat. No. 2,585,056, issued to M. M. Tierney on Feb. 12, 1952 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,969, issued to J." Voytko on Sept. 21, 1971. The Dube and Tierney reference patents both utilize structures which contain limited quantities of small material such as matches, screws, nails or the like and are easily closed by the user of the container since these items do not contain sufficient weight to hold the closing spout open against the force that the user exerts to close the pouring spout. The last reference patent to Voytko, while containing means for closing the bottom of the container, generally is not used as a reclosable container since the contents of the package are allowed to flow by normal gravitational flow to completely empty the container as shown in FIG. 7 of the drawings.

With the advent of recent improvements in solid f1- berboard, corrugated fiberboard and other types of bendable materials, container designers utilized their al. on July 16, 1957 and the U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,152, issued to H. V. White, Jr. on July 6, 1965. The first cited reference to Frederick, while teaching a bottom pouring container with a reclosable pouring spout, does not provide any positive means for stopping the flow of bulk materials from tne container and in addition does not provide any easy means for closing the ppouring spout against the weight of the remaining materials within the container. In addition the subject design requires that the flaps or doors l7 and 22 as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing be propped open or held by hand in order that the contents of the container can be removed. The prior art design taught by the White reference, while providing a pouring spout that remains open without being held by hand, makes no provision for positive control of the flow of material from the container and also makes no provision for easy closing of the valve against the weight of the remaining contents within the container. The White reference speaks of a valve assembly 50 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 9 of the patent but this is somewhat of a misnomer since the panel 50 should more properly be called a flap or door and does not act as a valve in the true sense of the word.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to overcome the problems and difficulties inherent in the before cited prior art, there has been provided by the subject invention a new and novel bulk material container which may contain a new and novel three-part pouring spout having features that allow the use of a quickly closable slide valve which functions in a manner which will be described more fully hereinafter. The bulk material container of the invention may beused to ship, store and dispense bulk materials of any size ranging from the smallest amount to extremely large amounts such as the storage of 3,000 pounds or more of bulk carbon black or the like. The bulk material container comprises basically an openended body having a bottom lid fixedly attached to the bottom of the body. The bottom lid contains means for reinforcing the bottom of the container and also the bottom lid and the container also has formed thereon means for forming the new and novel reclosable bottom pouring spout with provisions being made for the insertion of a positive acting slide valve in the pouring spout. The

new and novel pouring spout is basically a three-part construction having an outer upwardly swinging door formed on a portion of the container with an intermediate downwardly swinging door formed on another portion of the container and finally at least one inner sidewardly swinging door formed on another portion of the container with all of the doors being in juxtaposition so that the sidewardly swinging inner door serves to retain the upwardly and downwardly swinging doors in a generally horizontal position to allow the contents of the container to be easily removed, either under their own weight or by the user of the container.

Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide a new and novel bulk material container which may be used as a shipping container, a storage container and/or a dispensing container with the means for dispensing the contents of the container being formed integral with the container and being easily opened by the user.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved bulk material container which has positive means for opening and closing the inner portion of the container so that the contents therein are virtually leakproof and spillproof.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel bulk material container having provisions for the insertion of a simple slide valve which may be used to quickly cut off the flow of materials from the container whenever the materials are flowing by natural gravity and to hold back the remaining materials in the container while the reclosable pouring spout formed on the container is closed by the user.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved bulk material container which has novel means for reinforcing the bottom portion of the container and/or the top portion of the container with the bottom reinforcing means also serving to reinforce the reclosable pouring spout formed integral with the container.

Still yet another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel basic three-part pouring spout for use with a bulk material container with the pouring spout being formed with a plurality of directionally swinging doors which are in juxtaposition and interact so that the pouring spout remains open without the aid of extraneous devices.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and novel bulk material container that may be formed basically of paperboard and is capable of containing and retaining large quantities of bulk carbon black weighing in the range of 3,000 pounds or more.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a brief study of the drawings of the invention and a review of the description of the preferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of the new and novel bulk material container of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded side perspective view showing in greater detail the new and novel bulk material container of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the production blank of the bottom lid and/or the top lid of the subject container;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the production blank for the reinforcing means for the bottom lid of the subject container;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the production blank for the reinforcing means for the top lid of the container;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the production blank for the body of the container;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the production blank for the slide valve utilized with the container;

FIG. 8 is a partial enlarged perspective view of the new and novel pouring spout of the invention showing the pouring spout partially opened and the slide valve shown in FIG. 7 of the drawings inserted in place;

FIG. 9 is a partial end view taken along line 99 of FIG. 8 showing the first step in the opening of the reclosable pouring spout of the invention;

FIG. 10 is a side sectional view taken along line 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a partial end view taken along line 99 of FIG. 8 showing the second step in the opening of the reclosable pouring spout of the invention;

FIG. 12 is a partial side sectional view taken along line l2-12 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a partial end view taken along line 99 of FIG. 8 showing the third step in the opening of the reclosable pouring spout of the invention; and

FIG. 14 is a partial side sectional view taken along line 14-14 of FIG. 13.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in general and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, there is shown the new and novel bulk material container generally by the numeral 10 which comprises an elongated openended body 12 which may be formed in the general shape of an octagon as shown in the drawing or may be formed in other shapes within the spirit and scope of the invention. The body 12 when formed in the octagon shape shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing has formed around the periphery thereof at least one reinforcing means 14 in the form of a steel strap which may be formed between the outer layers of the corrugated paper forming the body 12 by methods known in the art and as typified by the U.S. Pat. 2,780,572, issued to A. E. Carlson on Feb. 5, 1957 and the U.S. Pat. No. 2,786,789, issued to the same inventor on Mar. 26, 1957. The reinforcing means 14 may also be in the form of metallic straps around the periphery of the body on the outer portion of the paperboard as known in the art and may also be reinforcement of the type shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,284, issued to W. J. Tompkins on Aug. 9, 1966. When the bulk material container of the invention is used to handle large quantities of bulk material such as 3,000 pounds of carbon black or the like, it may be desirable to provide two or more reinforcing bands 14 around the periphery of the body 12;.

The body 12 is formed in an openended tubular manner by overlapping the ends 16 and 18, shown in FIG. 6 of the drawing to form a manufactured joint 20 which may then be glued together by means well known in the art.

Whenever the bulk material container is used for the shipment of quantities of bulk material, a top lid 22 may be formed from the blank shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing to provide a top cover for the top of the tubular container. The top lid 22 is formed with a generally octagonal center section 24 having a plurality of flaps 26 formed around the periphery thereof which are hinged to the center section 24 at the scoreline 28.

The top lid also has formed thereon means for reinforcing the top portion of the container and the top lid in the form of an elongated band 30 formed of paperboard or other suitable material and having its opposite ends 32 and 34 overlapped and glued to form a manufactured joint 36, as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawing. The elongated band 30 may also have formed therein a reinforcing strap 38 of the types beforementioned in order to give more structural stability to the top portion of the bulk container. After the elongaged band 30 has been formed with the manufactured joint 36 glued in place, it is positioned over the top lid 22 after the flaps 26 have been turned down as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawing and is glued in place thereon by means of the glue shown as the numeral 40 in FIG. 2 of the drawing. Thereafter the top lid 22 may be positioned over the upper edge 42 of the body 12 and glued in place or held by other means as desired by the customer and dictated by the contents of the material to be handled within the container, the top lid 22 maybe eliminated in which case other means may be provided for reinforcing the upper portion of the container from the outward pressure caused by the contents within the container.

Fixedly attached to the bottom portion of the bottom 12 is a body lid 44 which may be formed structually similar to the top lid 24,.shown in FIGv 3 of the drawings with the addition of a portion of the new and novel pouring spout being formed thereon as will be more fully described hereafter. The pouring spout shown generally by the numeral 46 is formed in a three-part configuration and comprises a generally'outer swinging door 48 which is shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing and also in greater detail in FIG. 8 of the drawing. Behind the outer upwardly swinging 48 is an intermediate downwardly swinging door 50 and at least one inner sidewardly swinging door 52 whose function and formation will be more fully described hereinafter. In the embodiment shown in the drawings two inner sidewardly swinging doors are provided for the container shown.

Returning now to FIGS. 1-6 of the drawings there will now be described the formation of the beforementioned doors which form-the new and novel pouring 'spout of the invention. As previously mentioned the body 12 has fixedly attached to the bottom portion of the body a bottom lid 44 which is formed in a similar structure to the top lid 24 shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings. When the production blank shown in FIG-3 of the drawings is used to form the bottom lid, the intermediate door 50 is formed on the flap 54 by means of the plurality of cutlines 56, 58 and 60 and the scoreline 62.

The outline 58 is interrupted in its length by a curved die cut 64 which forms a finger opening for use in'pivoting the door 50 downwardly as will be described more fully hereinafter.

The bottom lid 44 also contains means for reinforcing the bottom portion of the container and the bottom lid in the ,form of an elongated band 66 shown more fully in FIG. 4 of the drawing which is formed by overlapping its outer edges 68 and 70 in the manner beforedescribed to form amanufactured joint 72. The elongated band 66 may also contain a reinforcing strap 74 and has formed thereon the outer door 48 which is cut open by the user to expose th inner doors as will be more fully described hereinafter. When the elongated band 66 is formed with a reinforcing strap 74, the strap would be positioned somewhat above the scoreline 76 in order to reinforce the door 48 from tearing whenever the cuts open the doors along the dashed lines 78 as shown in FIG. 4 of the drawing and as will be more fully described hereinafter. After the elongated band 66 has been formed with the manufactured joint 72 glued in place, it is then positioned over the bottom lid 44 after the flaps 26 of the bottom lid have been turned upwardly as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawing to form a wall extending around the margin of body 12 surrounding the bottom opening thereof. The elongated band 66 is then glued to the flaps 26 by means of the glue 80 and the bottom lid 44 is then subsequently glued to the bottom margin 82 of the container body 12 by means of the glue 84 which has been placed around the bottom of the container. In this manner the bottom of the container is rigidly reinforced by means of the elongated band 66 and also by means of the reinforcing strap 74 from outward pressures caused by the weight of the contents of the container.

The container body 12 along with the top lid 22 and the bottom lid 44 and their respective reinforcing means 30 and 66 may be formed of corrugated paperboard which has been wax impregnated thereby allowing the container to be used in conditions where moisture is a problem. When the container of the subject invention was used for storing granular carbon black in the amounts of 3,000 pounds weight, it was found preferable to form the body 12 from corrugated paper known in the trade as 600 lb. double wall with the top and bottom lids as well as their reinforcing bands being formed from what is known in the trade as 350 lb. B Flute all of which have been previously wax impregnated; While corrugated paperboard was used for the preferred embodiment, it is within the spirit and scope of the invention that other easily bendable materials may be used for formation of the container as well as the new and novel pouring spout which will now be described in detail.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawing and also to FIGS. 8-14 of the drawings there will be described in more detail the construction of the new and novel pouring spout for the subject container. The inner side- 7 52. In the manufacture of the body 12 these cuts and scores would be automatically made in the body but the inner doors 52 would not be folded or swung outwardly until the user of the container opened the pouring spout. In a like manner the downwardly swinging intermediate door 50 is formed on the flap S4 of the bottom lid 44 by means of the series of die cuts 56, 58, 60, and 64 and the scoreline 62 which forms a swinging axis for the intermediate door 50 transverse to the swinging axes of inner doors 52. The intermediate door would also be formed automatically in the manufacture of the lid 44 and would not be swung downwardly until the user of the container opens the pouring spout.

The outer upwardly swinging door 48 is formed by the user of the device cutting the dashed line 78 and swinging the door 48 upwardly around the scoreline 76 to expose the two inner doors, the swinging axis formed by scoreline 76 being parallel to the swinging axis of intermediate door 50.- By leaving the'outer door uncut until the customer cuts it with a knife or some other sharp instrument. the container remains completely closed making it virtually leakproof until the reclosable pouring spout is opened.

Referring now specifically to FIGS. 8-14 of the drawing there is shown the slide valve 94 which is used to control the flow of material through the pouring spout whenever the pouring spout is opened. The slide valve 94 may be formed of paperboard or some other suitable material and is inserted between the body 12 and the flap 54 for a downward motion in the direction shown by the arrow 96 to be positioned in the opening of the pouring spout formed when the doors are swung outwardly. It has been found from experimentation that whenever the container was used with easily flowable granular material such as carbon black, a positive means had to be provided for controlling the flow of the granular material through the pouring spout since the weight of the material in the container above the pouring spout exerted a force on the material on the bottom portion of the container forcing it out through the pouring spout. In addition a positive means had to be found to stop the flow of material at a predetermined time so that the pouring spout could be easily closed without the weight of the material in the container exerting a counterforce to the closing force pushing on the pouring spout parts. As a result of this, the slide valve 94 is positioned in the opening formed when inner doors 52 are swung outwardly as and shown in FIG. 14 beforementioned and serves to positively control the flow of materials from the pouring spout and also to positively hold back the remaining materials in the container whenever the pouring spout is to beclosed thereby relieving the pouring spout from undue pressure caused by the closing of it.

When the container is assembled, the inner door 52 and the intermediate door 50 are positioned so as to be in juxtaposition with the outer door 48 which is ultimately formed by the customer as beforementioned. Referring now to FIGS. 9-14 of the drawings there will be seen the opening sequence of the doors after the customer has formed the outer door 48 and swung it upwardly to expose the intermediate door 50. At this time the intermediate door 50 is able to be swung downwardly about the scoreline 62 to expose the inner door or doors 52. One function of the inner door or doors 52 is to serve as ameans for retaining the intermediate door 50 and the outer door 48 in a generally horizontal position while the natural resiliency of the paperboard in these doors tends to hold the inner doors 52 open in a generally vertical position as shown in FIG. 13 of the drawings thereby providing a fully opened pouring spout at all time which aids in better control of removal of the contents of the container. This is especially important whenever the container is used to hold larger bulkier granular items which are not easily flowable and which must be removed through the pouring spout by the customer shoveling the contents through the pouring spout door. In this case the inner action of the doors on each other holding themselves open eliminates the problem of the customer having to prop the doors open by some other device while still allowing the doors to be easily closed in the reverse order from which they were opened thereby providing a tight closure at the bottom of the container. In the embodiment shown in the drawings the inner door 52 has been formed as two doors while it is within the spirit and scope of the invention that the inner door 52 could be formed as a single door swinging outwardly without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. By referring to FIGS. 13 and 14 of the drawing there can be seen the placement of the slide valve 94 within the closing spout completely closing off the'opening 98 formed in the pouring spout. In closing the spout the customer swings the inner door or doors 52 inwardly to a position where they are almost closed, similar to that shown in FIG. 8 of the drawing, and simultaneously withdraws the slide valve 94 from the opening 98. After the slide valve has been withdrawn out of the opening 98 the inner doors 52 may then be completely closed and the intermediate door 50 may be swung upwardly thereby allowing the outer door 48 to be swung downwardly completely closing the pouring spout.

From the foregoing it can be seen that there has been provided a new and novel improved bulk material container that may be used for shipping, storing and also for dispensing bulk materials through the new and novel pouring spout of the invention. The container may be formed from suitable paperboard or other suitable bendable materials and has novel means provided for incorporating a positive control slide valve in the pouring spout for controlling the removal of the granular material in the container. The novel incorporation of the slide valve also acts to retain the pressure of the internal contents of the container whenever it is closed thereby allowing the pouring spout to be easily closed without having to force it against the pressure of the contents. The new and novel arrangement of the doors of the pouring spout also allows the pouring spout to be easily opened and to remain open without any extraneous aids thereby providing an uninterrupted opening in the pouring spout for removal of the contents of the container. The container structure of the invention, when used to handle large quantities of material, also contains novel means for reinforcing the container structure against the outward pressure of the contents.

From a reading of the specification it should become apparent that many changes may be made in the structure of the invention and the arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and the invention is not to be limited to the description contained herein which has been given by way of reference only.

Having described the invention, we claim:

1. A bulk material container comprising an elongated body having a bottom opening therein and a margin surrounding said bottom opening;

a bottom lid closing said bottom opening of said body and having a wall extending around said margin in juxtaposition therewith;

a band extending around said wall of said bottom lid in juxtaposition therewith for reinforcing said body and said bottom lid;

reclosable means disposed adjacent said bottom opening of said body for forming a pouring spout including inner door means formed of a portion of said margin of said body and swingable outwardly to define an opening therein, intermediate door means formed of an outwardly swinging portion of said wall of said bottom lid, and outer door means formed of an outwardly swinging portion of said band, said inner, intermediate and .outer door means being aligned to define said pouring spout when swung outwardly; and

a sliding valve member disposed to be slidable into said opening formed by said inner door means to control flow from said body through said pouring spout whereby said sliding valve member can be positioned in said opening to facilitate inward swinging of said inner, intermediate and outer door means to close said pouring spout.

2. The bulk material container as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner door means swings on an axis disposed transverse to the swinging axes of said intermediate outer door means.

3. The bulk material container as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner door means includes a pair of doors swinging on parallel axes, said intermediate door means includes a door swinging in a first direction on an axis transverse to the axes of said inner doors, and said outer door means includes a door swinging in a second direction opposite to said first direction on an axis parallel to the axis of said intermediate door.

4. The bulk material container as defined in claim 3 wherein said sliding valve member is slidably disposed between said margin of said body and said wall of said bottom lid.

5. The container as defined in claim 1 further comprising said body having formed around the periphery thereof at least one reinforcing means.

6. The container as defined in claim 5 further comprising a top lid, fixedly attached to a top portion of the body and further comprising means, fixedly attached to said top lid, for reinforcing the top portion of the body and said top lid.

7. The container as defined in claim 1 wherein said bottom reinforcing means includes a paperboard band fixedly attached to said wall of said bottom lid.

8. The bulk material container as defined in claim 1 wherein said band for reinforcing said bottom lid includes a strap positioned adjacent said outer door means in a manner so as to reinforce said pouring spout from tearing.

9. A container comprising inner, outer and intermediate juxtaposed walls;

and a three-part pouring spout including a. an upwardly swinging door formed on said outer wall of the container; 1

b. a downwardly swinging door formed on said intermediate wall of the container, and facing said upwardly swinging door;

c. at least one sidewardly swinging door formed on said inner wall of the container and facing said downwardly swinging door; and

d. said doors being formed and positioned so that said sidewardly swinging door swings about an axis transverse to the axes of said upwardly and downwardly swinging doors to retain said upwardly and downwardly swinging doors in a generally horizontal position thereby allowing the contents of the container to be removed.

10. The pouring spout as defined in claim 9 further comprising a slide valve movable to be positioned between said doors for cutting off the flow of the contents thereby allowing said doors to be rapidly closed without the contents of the container exerting an undue UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,791,562 Dated February 12, 197A Inventor(s) Robert A. Bamburg at al.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Columnl, line 19: change "gype" to type- Column 2, line 6: change "tne container" to the container-. I I

Column 2, line 7: change "ppouring" to -pouring--.

Column 4, line 49: afte:r;-;. "The top lid" insert 22-----.

Column 5, line 49: change "th inner doors" to -the inner doors. Column 7, lines 11-12: change "swung outwardly as and shown in FIG. '14 beforementioned and serves" to -swung outwardly as beforementioned' and shown in FIG. 14 and serves-.

Signed and sealed this 5th day of November 197 (SEAL) Attest:

MCCOY M. GIBSON JR. C. MARSHAIL DANN Attesting Officer Carmissioner of Patents FORM PC4050 (10369) uscoMM-Dc 60376-P69 U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: I969 0-366-334 

1. A bulk material container comprising an elongated body having a bottom opening therein and a margin surrounding said bottom opening; a bottom lid closing said bottom opening of said body and having a wall extending around said margin in juxtaposition therewith; a band extending around said wall of said bottom lid in juxtaposition therewith for reinforcing said body and said bottom lid; reclosable means disposed adjacent said bottom opening of said body for forming a pouring spout including inner door means formed of a portion of said margin of said body and swingable outwardly to define an opening therein, intermediate door means formed of an outwardly swinging portion of said wall of said bottom lid, and outer door means formed of aN outwardly swinging portion of said band, said inner, intermediate and outer door means being aligned to define said pouring spout when swung outwardly; and a sliding valve member disposed to be slidable into said opening formed by said inner door means to control flow from said body through said pouring spout whereby said sliding valve member can be positioned in said opening to facilitate inward swinging of said inner, intermediate and outer door means to close said pouring spout.
 2. The bulk material container as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner door means swings on an axis disposed transverse to the swinging axes of said intermediate outer door means.
 3. The bulk material container as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner door means includes a pair of doors swinging on parallel axes, said intermediate door means includes a door swinging in a first direction on an axis transverse to the axes of said inner doors, and said outer door means includes a door swinging in a second direction opposite to said first direction on an axis parallel to the axis of said intermediate door.
 4. The bulk material container as defined in claim 3 wherein said sliding valve member is slidably disposed between said margin of said body and said wall of said bottom lid.
 5. The container as defined in claim 1 further comprising said body having formed around the periphery thereof at least one reinforcing means.
 6. The container as defined in claim 5 further comprising a top lid, fixedly attached to a top portion of the body and further comprising means, fixedly attached to said top lid, for reinforcing the top portion of the body and said top lid.
 7. The container as defined in claim 1 wherein said bottom reinforcing means includes a paperboard band fixedly attached to said wall of said bottom lid.
 8. The bulk material container as defined in claim 1 wherein said band for reinforcing said bottom lid includes a strap positioned adjacent said outer door means in a manner so as to reinforce said pouring spout from tearing.
 9. A container comprising inner, outer and intermediate juxtaposed walls; and a three-part pouring spout including a. an upwardly swinging door formed on said outer wall of the container; b. a downwardly swinging door formed on said intermediate wall of the container, and facing said upwardly swinging door; c. at least one sidewardly swinging door formed on said inner wall of the container and facing said downwardly swinging door; and d. said doors being formed and positioned so that said sidewardly swinging door swings about an axis transverse to the axes of said upwardly and downwardly swinging doors to retain said upwardly and downwardly swinging doors in a generally horizontal position thereby allowing the contents of the container to be removed.
 10. The pouring spout as defined in claim 9 further comprising a slide valve movable to be positioned between said doors for cutting off the flow of the contents thereby allowing said doors to be rapidly closed without the contents of the container exerting an undue pressure on the pouring spout. 